KSSA girls training

Whilst 40 Juniors were enjoying the first regular Chipmates session of the season and three of our Topper sailors were at Rutland for the Eric Twiname event, eight of our girls travelled to Downs SC for a day of double-handed sailing on the sea. For half of the Chipmates girls who attended it was the first time they had been along to a KSSA event and for six of the eight it was the first time they had sailed in a double-hander!

First time in a double-hander for our youngest two Chipmates!

When they arrived for registration at 8.30am, the girls learned who they’d been paired with. In most cases they were paired with someone from another sailing club and were allocated a boat they were unfamiliar with. After a rather more dramatic launch than they are used to at Chipstead, the girls had plenty of opportunity to chat to their helm/crew as there was little wind. As the morning went on so the wind picked up just enough to learn how to use a spinnaker.

After lunch crews and helms were mixed up once again, with our youngest two sailors finding themselves in a Hartley together and others being paired up mainly in Fevas but one in a Laser 2000. With a decent wind having made an appearance there was a lot of fun to be had hiking out and using spinnakers. It was nearly 5pm when the final Chipstead sailor came to shore!

Feedback from the day was overwhelmingly positive, with all the girls having tried something new whether that was the class of boat, sailing on the sea, using a spinnaker or being in a double-hander. Thank you KSSA and Downs SC for putting on such a brilliant event!